OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS, SOME PLANS FOR THE RESERVATION
MORE DAMS ON JOCKO & POST CREEK
St.Ignatius: The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) is considering plans to build new irrigation dams on lower Post Creek and in the upper Jocko River, it was revealed last month during a Flathead River drainage hearing in St.Ignatius.
The SCS, according to engineer Milt Gri ffing of Boze-man, is "examining the potential" of irrigation dams on Post Creek and the Jocko as well as a large impoundment on the Little Bitterroot above Dry Creek dam and raising the dam on St. Mary's Lake.
These plans, and other proposed uses of waters in the Flathead drainage, were included in a preliminary review of a drainage-wide water use planning by the Montana State Department of Natural Resources. The Department has been working for nearly three years on a plan for the Flathead River drainage.... which includes all lands between the Canadian border and the confluence of the Flathead with the Clark Fork River at Paradise. The draft plan should be completed later this summer, according
Water (Cont. on page 2)
OIL SEARCH ON FLATHEAD UPPER
St. Ignatius: A Canadian based oil firm has applied for exploration leases to seek oil on the north, south and middle forks of the Flathead River. This development surfaced last month during a public hearing on water plans for the Flathead River drainage.
According to Dave Nunn-allee, a Montana State Dept. of Health engineer from Kalispell, the Texas Pacific Oil Company, district headquarters Calgary, Alberta, has applied to the Bureau of Land Management for permission to drill-core test for oil in Flathead river headwater streams above the Flathead reservation. Nannallee said the firm has already held a meeting with officials from the Fiathead National Forest and the Montana Fish and Game Department.
Although specific plans for the oil quest in the rugged country around Glacier National Park are not yet available, it is thought that the firm may want to drill both within the park and in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area.
Glacier National Park is bordered to the west and south by the North and Middle forks of the Flathead Riv-
er. The southfork of the Flathead runs through the Bob Marshall Wilderness area before reaching the impoundment of Hungry Horse Reservoir.
Although the surface of both the national park and the wilderness areas are protected by federal law, it is believed that BLM has the authority to grant exploration per-Oil (Cont. on page two)
JOM COMMITTEES MEET ON RONAN SCHOOL PROBLEMS
St.Ignatius: Johnson O' Mal-ley (J O M) committees from around the reservation met last week to come to grips with what some believe is a major crisis in Indian education.
The committees...from seven reservation school districts...met in the St.Ignatius Neighborhood Facility, Feb. 5 (as Char-Koosta went to press) to discuss recent moves by the Ronan District to remove JOM programs from the schools.
According to sources, the situation at the Ronan school began in January when the school administration ordered Kathey Dupuis, the JOM counselor, to begin working with non-Indian students. The Ronan JOM committee, composed of people from the Indian community, balked at the order and pointed out to the administration that JOM monies are ear-marked specifically for Indian education.
The next development was a statement of policy by the Ronan school district administration. The statement points out the district's long history of cooperation with Indian education programs but notes: "The purpose of the (Ronan) school should be to foster more open social structures where students are accepted as equals based on their own unique ability to contribute to society and not a mere mathematical statistic relating to the hereditary origin."
The statement continues: "It is the announced policy of this school district that it will participate only in those (Indian) programs based on a wide spectrum of the population. The district will not accept or participate in a program that requires an identification of students by race."
The statement concludes that: "In particular, this will eliminate the school's parti-
JOM (Cont. on page 7)